January 02, 2013

Clowney's monster hit sparks Gamecocks' Outback Bowl win: After Michigan's Floyd Simmons gained not-quite-four yards on a fourth-and-four play in the fourth quarter of the Outback Bowl, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier watched as referee Jeff Maconaghy awarded a first down in spite of the fact that the nose of the ball didn't reach the first-down marker. Spurrier asked a nearby official for an explanation. Spurrier's memory of the exchange goes like this:

Spurrier: "You know the ball did not touch the first-down marker?"

Official: "I know it didn't."

Spurrier: "Well, why'd he give it to 'em?"

Official: "I don't know."

Michigan took the field for its first-down play. Quarterback Devin Gardner handed off to Vincent Smith. Then...

The official that gave Michigan a first down on that measurement must be either a Michigan alumni or incompetent or maybe both. On the other hand. Clowney is probably the best college football player in the country.

I always find it amusing that the entire sport of football collectively believes that not only can referred determine where balls should be spotted to the centimeter, but that they can do it three times in a row, to the point that we should believe any chain-requiring measurement as The Truth. The refs should have the leeway to make the call visually, and if one is consistently obviously wrong, then fire his ass.

Also, as much as I love Steve Spurrier's continued presence in college football, I don't believe his version of the conversation for a second.

All that said, that was not a first down, and even as a Michigan grad, I'm almost glad Clowney got that fumble. If he'd done it before the Heisman balloting, he might have been invited to New York.

At some point between the hit and Ellington's catch for the win, someone pulled Clowney aside on the sideline, pulled out a smartphone and showed him footage of the clip on YouTube. "Somebody just said, 'Make a big play,'" Clowney said. "It just came to me."

Ah, technology. I'm only surprised it didn't show up on the USGS tremor reports.